Shame

Pilgrim Jones doesn't belong here.

She belongs in the cities of Europe, by her handsome husband's side.

But here she is, in a village on the edge of Africa.

No one knows why she is here and what she is hiding from. And she is not going to tell them - about her husband's betrayal, or the children she killed in a crash.

But two men from Pilgrim's past are coming to find her - two men with very different motives.

“Melanie Finn's second novel lives up to the promise of her first. Shame pulls off the feat of being both chilling and redemptive. She explores vast themes - the solitude of bereavement, the eternal nature of maternal love, the irony of fate - with a light, deft touch”

Intense, impressive... Told with force, and bracing directness... It's a book that smashes into you. - Guardian

Arresting - Finn conjures up Africa perfectly.

A brilliantly written account of a soul in torment and the way she is pursued by her own fate. Finn evokes the darkness and light of Africa with the same sureness that she calls forth the brightness and shadow of the human heart.

I rarely get as invested in the outcome of a novel as I did reading Shame . . . These characters could be us

So powerful, brutal and haunting. There are scenes that will just stay in the memory, the birth scene in particular was just incredible. Absolutely brilliant

'Shame, a second novel by Melanie Finn, deserved more recognition than it received. Her Africa is one I recognise, neither sentimental nor sensationalised. Finn has a light, deft touch as a writer, but the images she conjures up are so subversively creepy they haunt you for days' - Spectator Best Books of the Year

Melanie Finn was born and raised in Kenya. She has worked as a screenwriter and a journalist, and is the founder and co-director of the Natron Healthcare Project, which helps rural Masai communities. Her first novel, AWAY FROM YOU, was published to great critical acclaim in 2004, and was longlisted for the Orange and IMPAC Prizes. Her second novel, SHAME, has been shortlisted for the GUARDIAN'S NOT THE BOOKER Prize.

Pilgrim Jones doesn't belong here.She belongs in the cities of Europe, by her handsome husband's side. But here she is, in a village on the edge of Africa. No one knows why she is here and what she is hiding from. And she is not going to tell them - about her husband's betrayal, or the children she killed in a crash. But two men from Pilgrim's past are coming to find her - two men with very different motives.

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